planting masdevallias

[The Orchid Boy]

I'd put about 1 inch of water on the bottom and wait until it is almost but not totally gone.

[OhioBob]

What is the best way to fertilize with this setup? I bought a masdie recently and have thought about doing this too since I need to water it before and after work. I didn't realize how much water they liked and it was a good price. With fertilizer in the glass bowl I envision seeing green soup in no time.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Masdevallias do like a lot of moisture, but they don't like it to be soggy wet.

[clusty]

So far I only vaporise with some weak seaweed fertilizer. Doubt a lot of fertilizer is making it in the water "reservoir".

[escualida]

Originally Posted by OhioBob

What is the best way to fertilize with this setup? I bought a masdie recently and have thought about doing this too since I need to water it before and after work. I didn't realize how much water they liked and it was a good price. With fertilizer in the glass bowl I envision seeing green soup in no time.

I have a masdie in S/H and made the mistake of overfertilizing, this killed all of the new growths... I had to flush it out a lot before it started to get new growths again and now I'm really careful just in case.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by escualida

I have a masdie in S/H and made the mistake of overfertilizing, this killed all of the new growths... I had to flush it out a lot before it started to get new growths again and now I'm really careful just in case.

This is a good point. They don't need too much fertilizer to bloom or grow right.

[escualida]

I only have the one masdie so I don't have much experience. I think I'm going to use the idea of putting sphag on top of the LECA but I'm worried, how do you know how high up you can put it? Is there not any concern with rotting the bottoms of the growths? The sphag in this case is probably going to be consistently wet and won't dry out, so I'm a little worried and want to make sure that it's potted correctly.

[clusty]

In my setup the roots are mostly in leca. The moss is mostly "clog" the whole thing so less moisture escapes, as well as aesthetics.

So far the leca high up looks always moist so I guess roots should get enough moisture.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by escualida

I only have the one masdie so I don't have much experience. I think I'm going to use the idea of putting sphag on top of the LECA but I'm worried, how do you know how high up you can put it? Is there not any concern with rotting the bottoms of the growths? The sphag in this case is probably going to be consistently wet and won't dry out, so I'm a little worried and want to make sure that it's potted correctly.

Here is a link to someone's Flickr account of Masdevallia picturata growing in-situ:

Masdevallia picturata (syn Fissia picturata) in situ 2009-03-29 079 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

This should give you an idea of what you should do.

Just in case you can't see it clearly in the pic, I'll say this...

Don't bury any part of the stem or leaves. Yes, Masdevallias have very short stems that the petiole of the leaves are connected to. Only bury the roots in potting media.

[clusty]

Any idea is Masdevallia Maui gold is fragrant?
I got one, and the seller said it was. I somehow doubtful...